


Company

by Anonymous



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Can be read as shippy if that is what you want, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Just me projecting my own needs into a character, No Plot, Platonic fic, nothing happens, only hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28299318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Eleanor tries to help Michael through an anxiety attack.Absolutely no plot, that's all there is to the story. This is only something I had to get out of my system while going through a bad moment.
Relationships: Michael (The Good Place) & Eleanor Shellstrop
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: Anonymous





	Company

**Author's Note:**

> TW: anxiety attacks, slight mention of self-harm

She could barely make him out in the darkness of the office. The grey of his hoodie was the first thing Eleanor saw, even before his grey hair, surely hidden by the cotton, a sad substitute for the womb Michael never had the luck to inhabit. The question over how warm squids eggs were only took over her mind for a second.

Her priorities were elsewhere.

With slow steps, she reached the corner of the office he had cornered himself into and kneeled down in from of him, hands still trembling from the fear of finding the place locked (who cared if picking locks costed points? Nothing would stop her from checking on her dear friend). The worst kind of images had filled her brain the moment her calls turned into yells and her nervous laughs clogged her throat so, when kicking the door down stopped sounding like an insane idea, she decided to stop messing around and —quite literally— take matters into her own hands.

She placed one hand on his shoulder and squeezed to draw his attention.

"Hey, buddy. What's going on?"

With the lack of distance and her eyes getting used to the darkness, Eleanor could now see how uneven his breathing was, how bad his lips were quivering and how wide and shimmering his eyes were. She took a hand to his face and made him look up, not even daring to ask a stupid question such as 'are you okay?'.

"Tough week?"

It sure had been, with half the subjects being asholes and demons breathing down on their necks.

Not to mention the little part about being in charge of the fate of humanity.

He shook his head, avoiding her eyes.

"Tough year, then?", she added, tracing a hand up and down his arm.

Michael seemed to ponder for a moment before shaking his head again.

"Are thinking of the future?"

He let out a dismissive hum. At least he was making sounds now.

She swallowed.

"...The past?"

His eyes fixed on hers, only for a second, and he looked away, nodding.

"Oh buddy, come here..." Eleanor propped herself up on her knees to bring him closer and wrapped her arms around him before sitting by his side and resting his head on her chest while his fingers clung to her shirt.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No..."

She let out a breath. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

He stayed silent for a moment. "Not really..."

"Do you think me staying here might help?"

She felt his muscles relax and smiled ever so slightly.

"Maybe..."

"Okay, then." She stretched her legs and pushed on his shoulders until his head ended up resting on her lap. Her fingers combed through his hair while his eyes still avoided hers, anxiously darting around the room.

_"For an immortal being, he's pretty fragile."_

No.

Fork, how wrong she had been.

Her demon buddy was as strong as they came. Only someone as tough as he was could endure the baggage he did and take it like a champ.

She caught one of his hands seeking his other wrist, nails digging on the thin skin of his suit, and carefully held it to keep him from hurting himself.

"Hey, hey... Please, don't do that..."

He swallowed and took a deep breath when Eleanor began to rub circles on the area.

"T- They hurt. I feel like something is crawling inside of them."

She moved to the wrist resting on his chest, her other hand still on his hair. "Yeah, that's a human thing... Does this make it better?"

He nodded. "A little."

"Can you look at me, bud?"

After a moment of hesitation, he did. His eyes were still creased but the tears were no longer there. Eleanor placed a hand on his chest and tried to copy that thing Jason did whenever someone was attacked by anxiety, hoping it wasn't pure bullshirt.

"Breathe... I know you can breathe in that suit of yours."

His chest rose and fell slowly, following her own breathing as it guided him. After a while, she asked him to close his eyes and keep breathing.

It seemed to be working.

A good number of minutes had passed in complete silence when his head finally dropped to the side, landing near her knee.

Was he... sleeping?

Could he even do that?

Eleanor looked at him and dropped her head on the wall.

They would have plenty of time to talk whenever he was ready to do so. But, for now, he deserved to rest, and she would make sure her best bud knew, until then, that he was not alone.


End file.
